Confession, the fault-finding self
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मागें जैसा होता माझे अंगीं भाव । तैसा एक ठाव नाहीं आतां ॥1॥
ऐसें गोही माझें मन मजपाशीं । तुटी मुदलेंसी दिसे पुढें ॥ध्रु.॥
पुढिलांचे मना आणि गुणदोष । पूज्य आपणांस करावया ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जाली कोंबडएाची परी । पुढें चि उकरी लाभ नेणें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The devotion I once felt in my being is no longer there as it was. My own mind bears witness: I see loss of the very principal ahead. It brings up faults in others only to make itself seem worthy of worship. Says Tuka, I have become like a hen that scratches only at what lies ahead and does not recognize the true gain.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The devotion that once filled my being is not there now as it was. My own mind is witness against me: I see the very capital being lost ahead. I dig up the faults and merits of others only to make myself worth worshipping. Tuka says: I have become like a hen, scratching only at what lies in front, never knowing the real gain.
What it means
Tukaram catches himself in a precise inner corruption and refuses to excuse it. The old warmth of devotion has cooled, and his own mind testifies that he is losing the principal, the original capital, not just the interest. The symptom he names is sharp: he scans other people's faults and virtues, but only to set himself up as someone worthy of reverence. The hen that scratches forward for scraps and never recognizes true treasure is aimed at this pattern in himself, a warning to examine the same scratching impulse in oneself rather than to scorn another.
Confession and Sin
Raw, unflinching accounts of personal failure, weakness, and the weight of sin.
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